Re: barriers: was: [RFC PATCH v2 17/18] livepatch: change to a per-task consistency model

From	Petr Mladek <pmladek@suse.com>
Newsgroups	linux.kernel
Subject	Re: barriers: was: [RFC PATCH v2 17/18] livepatch: change to a per-task consistency model
Date	2016-05-05 13:30 +0200
Message-ID	<rvpDH-7rd-5@gated-at.bofh.it> (permalink)
References	<rt12N-1W5-3@gated-at.bofh.it> <rt12O-1W5-9@gated-at.bofh.it> <rv4fV-3Mb-29@gated-at.bofh.it> <rv5OF-5wR-1@gated-at.bofh.it> <rv8Mz-8iq-31@gated-at.bofh.it>
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On Wed 2016-05-04 12:25:17, Josh Poimboeuf wrote:
> On Wed, May 04, 2016 at 04:12:05PM +0200, Petr Mladek wrote:
> > On Wed 2016-05-04 14:39:40, Petr Mladek wrote:
> > > 		 *
> > > 		 * Note that the task must never be migrated to the target
> > > 		 * state when being inside this ftrace handler.
> > > 		 */
> > > 
> > > We might want to move the second paragraph on top of the function.
> > > It is a basic and important fact. It actually explains why the first
> > > read barrier is not needed when the patch is being disabled.
> > 
> > I wrote the statement partly intuitively. I think that it is really
> > somehow important. And I am slightly in doubts if we are on the safe side.
> > 
> > First, why is it important that the task->patch_state is not switched
> > when being inside the ftrace handler?
> > 
> > If we are inside the handler, we are kind-of inside the called
> > function. And the basic idea of this consistency model is that
> > we must not switch a task when it is inside a patched function.
> > This is normally decided by the stack.
> > 
> > The handler is a bit special because it is called right before the
> > function. If it was the only patched function on the stack, it would
> > not matter if we choose the new or old code. Both decisions would
> > be safe for the moment.
> > 
> > The fun starts when the function calls another patched function.
> > The other patched function must be called consistently with
> > the first one. If the first function was from the patch,
> > the other must be from the patch as well and vice versa.
> > 
> > This is why we must not switch task->patch_state dangerously
> > when being inside the ftrace handler.
> > 
> > Now I am not sure if this condition is fulfilled. The ftrace handler
> > is called as the very first instruction of the function. Does not
> > it break the stack validity? Could we sleep inside the ftrace
> > handler? Will the patched function be detected on the stack?
> > 
> > Or is my brain already too far in the fantasy world?
> 
> I think this isn't a possibility.
> 
> In today's code base, this can't happen because task patch states are
> only switched when sleeping or when exiting the kernel.  The ftrace
> handler doesn't sleep directly.
> 
> If it were preempted, it couldn't be switched there either because we
> consider preempted stacks to be unreliable.

This was the missing piece.

> In theory, a DWARF stack trace of a preempted task *could* be reliable.
> But then the DWARF unwinder should be smart enough to see that the
> original function called the ftrace handler.  Right?  So the stack would
> be reliable, but then livepatch would see the original function on the
> stack and wouldn't switch the task.
> 
> Does that make sense?

Yup. I think that we are on the safe side. Thanks for explanation.

Best Regards,
Petr

Thread

[RFC PATCH v2 00/18] livepatch: hybrid consistency model Josh Poimboeuf <jpoimboe@redhat.com> - 2016-04-28 22:50 +0200
  [RFC PATCH v2 14/18] livepatch: remove unnecessary object loaded check Josh Poimboeuf <jpoimboe@redhat.com> - 2016-04-28 22:50 +0200
  [RFC PATCH v2 10/18] livepatch/powerpc: add TIF_PATCH_PENDING thread flag Josh Poimboeuf <jpoimboe@redhat.com> - 2016-04-28 22:50 +0200
    Re: [RFC PATCH v2 10/18] livepatch/powerpc: add TIF_PATCH_PENDING  thread flag Petr Mladek <pmladek@suse.com> - 2016-05-03 11:10 +0200
      Re: [RFC PATCH v2 10/18] livepatch/powerpc: add TIF_PATCH_PENDING  thread flag Miroslav Benes <mbenes@suse.cz> - 2016-05-03 14:10 +0200
  [RFC PATCH v2 16/18] livepatch: store function sizes Josh Poimboeuf <jpoimboe@redhat.com> - 2016-04-28 22:50 +0200
  [RFC PATCH v2 05/18] sched: add task flag for preempt IRQ tracking Josh Poimboeuf <jpoimboe@redhat.com> - 2016-04-28 22:50 +0200
    Re: [RFC PATCH v2 05/18] sched: add task flag for preempt IRQ tracking Andy Lutomirski <luto@amacapital.net> - 2016-04-29 20:10 +0200
      Re: [RFC PATCH v2 05/18] sched: add task flag for preempt IRQ tracking Andy Lutomirski <luto@amacapital.net> - 2016-04-29 22:20 +0200
        Re: [RFC PATCH v2 05/18] sched: add task flag for preempt IRQ  tracking Josh Poimboeuf <jpoimboe@redhat.com> - 2016-04-29 22:30 +0200
          Re: [RFC PATCH v2 05/18] sched: add task flag for preempt IRQ tracking Andy Lutomirski <luto@amacapital.net> - 2016-04-29 22:40 +0200
            Re: [RFC PATCH v2 05/18] sched: add task flag for preempt IRQ  tracking Josh Poimboeuf <jpoimboe@redhat.com> - 2016-04-29 23:30 +0200
              Re: [RFC PATCH v2 05/18] sched: add task flag for preempt IRQ tracking Andy Lutomirski <luto@amacapital.net> - 2016-04-29 23:40 +0200
                Re: [RFC PATCH v2 05/18] sched: add task flag for preempt IRQ  tracking Jiri Kosina <jikos@kernel.org> - 2016-04-30 00:20 +0200
                Re: [RFC PATCH v2 05/18] sched: add task flag for preempt IRQ  tracking Josh Poimboeuf <jpoimboe@redhat.com> - 2016-04-30 01:00 +0200
                Re: [RFC PATCH v2 05/18] sched: add task flag for preempt IRQ tracking Andy Lutomirski <luto@amacapital.net> - 2016-04-30 02:20 +0200
                Re: [RFC PATCH v2 05/18] sched: add task flag for preempt IRQ  tracking Josh Poimboeuf <jpoimboe@redhat.com> - 2016-04-30 00:50 +0200
                Re: [RFC PATCH v2 05/18] sched: add task flag for preempt IRQ tracking Andy Lutomirski <luto@amacapital.net> - 2016-04-30 02:10 +0200
                Re: [RFC PATCH v2 05/18] sched: add task flag for preempt IRQ  tracking Josh Poimboeuf <jpoimboe@redhat.com> - 2016-05-02 16:00 +0200
                Re: [RFC PATCH v2 05/18] sched: add task flag for preempt IRQ tracking Andy Lutomirski <luto@amacapital.net> - 2016-05-02 18:00 +0200
                Re: [RFC PATCH v2 05/18] sched: add task flag for preempt IRQ  tracking Josh Poimboeuf <jpoimboe@redhat.com> - 2016-05-02 19:40 +0200
                Re: [RFC PATCH v2 05/18] sched: add task flag for preempt IRQ tracking Andy Lutomirski <luto@amacapital.net> - 2016-05-02 20:20 +0200
                Re: [RFC PATCH v2 05/18] sched: add task flag for preempt IRQ  tracking Ingo Molnar <mingo@kernel.org> - 2016-05-02 20:40 +0200
                Re: [RFC PATCH v2 05/18] sched: add task flag for preempt IRQ  tracking Josh Poimboeuf <jpoimboe@redhat.com> - 2016-05-02 21:50 +0200
                Re: [RFC PATCH v2 05/18] sched: add task flag for preempt IRQ  tracking Jiri Kosina <jikos@kernel.org> - 2016-05-02 22:00 +0200
                Re: [RFC PATCH v2 05/18] sched: add task flag for preempt IRQ  tracking Jiri Kosina <jikos@kernel.org> - 2016-05-02 22:10 +0200
                Re: [RFC PATCH v2 05/18] sched: add task flag for preempt IRQ tracking Andy Lutomirski <luto@amacapital.net> - 2016-05-03 02:50 +0200
                RE: [RFC PATCH v2 05/18] sched: add task flag for preempt IRQ  tracking David Laight <David.Laight@ACULAB.COM> - 2016-05-04 17:20 +0200
      Re: [RFC PATCH v2 05/18] sched: add task flag for preempt IRQ  tracking Josh Poimboeuf <jpoimboe@redhat.com> - 2016-04-29 22:20 +0200
  [RFC PATCH v2 09/18] livepatch/x86: add TIF_PATCH_PENDING thread flag Josh Poimboeuf <jpoimboe@redhat.com> - 2016-04-28 22:50 +0200
    Re: [RFC PATCH v2 09/18] livepatch/x86: add TIF_PATCH_PENDING thread flag Andy Lutomirski <luto@amacapital.net> - 2016-04-29 20:10 +0200
      Re: [RFC PATCH v2 09/18] livepatch/x86: add TIF_PATCH_PENDING thread  flag Josh Poimboeuf <jpoimboe@redhat.com> - 2016-04-29 22:20 +0200
  [RFC PATCH v2 02/18] x86/asm/head: use a common function for starting CPUs Josh Poimboeuf <jpoimboe@redhat.com> - 2016-04-28 22:50 +0200
  [RFC PATCH v2 13/18] livepatch: separate enabled and patched states Josh Poimboeuf <jpoimboe@redhat.com> - 2016-04-28 22:50 +0200
    Re: [RFC PATCH v2 13/18] livepatch: separate enabled and patched  states Petr Mladek <pmladek@suse.com> - 2016-05-03 11:40 +0200
      Re: [RFC PATCH v2 13/18] livepatch: separate enabled and patched  states Josh Poimboeuf <jpoimboe@redhat.com> - 2016-05-03 15:50 +0200
  [RFC PATCH v2 06/18] x86: dump_trace() error handling Josh Poimboeuf <jpoimboe@redhat.com> - 2016-04-28 22:50 +0200
    Re: [RFC PATCH v2 06/18] x86: dump_trace() error handling Minfei Huang <mnghuan@gmail.com> - 2016-04-29 15:50 +0200
      Re: [RFC PATCH v2 06/18] x86: dump_trace() error handling Josh Poimboeuf <jpoimboe@redhat.com> - 2016-04-29 16:10 +0200
  [RFC PATCH v2 03/18] x86/asm/head: standardize the bottom of the stack for idle tasks Josh Poimboeuf <jpoimboe@redhat.com> - 2016-04-28 23:00 +0200
    Re: [RFC PATCH v2 03/18] x86/asm/head: standardize the bottom of the  stack for idle tasks Brian Gerst <brgerst@gmail.com> - 2016-04-29 20:50 +0200
      Re: [RFC PATCH v2 03/18] x86/asm/head: standardize the bottom of the  stack for idle tasks Josh Poimboeuf <jpoimboe@redhat.com> - 2016-04-29 22:30 +0200
    Re: [RFC PATCH v2 03/18] x86/asm/head: standardize the bottom of the  stack for idle tasks Andy Lutomirski <luto@kernel.org> - 2016-04-29 21:40 +0200
      Re: [RFC PATCH v2 03/18] x86/asm/head: standardize the bottom of the  stack for idle tasks Josh Poimboeuf <jpoimboe@redhat.com> - 2016-04-29 23:00 +0200
        Re: [RFC PATCH v2 03/18] x86/asm/head: standardize the bottom of the  stack for idle tasks Andy Lutomirski <luto@amacapital.net> - 2016-04-29 23:40 +0200
          Re: [RFC PATCH v2 03/18] x86/asm/head: standardize the bottom of the  stack for idle tasks Josh Poimboeuf <jpoimboe@redhat.com> - 2016-04-30 01:30 +0200
            Re: [RFC PATCH v2 03/18] x86/asm/head: standardize the bottom of the  stack for idle tasks Andy Lutomirski <luto@amacapital.net> - 2016-04-30 02:20 +0200
  [RFC PATCH v2 04/18] x86: move _stext marker before head code Josh Poimboeuf <jpoimboe@redhat.com> - 2016-04-28 23:00 +0200
  [RFC PATCH v2 01/18] x86/asm/head: clean up initial stack variable Josh Poimboeuf <jpoimboe@redhat.com> - 2016-04-28 23:00 +0200
  Re: [RFC PATCH v2 17/18] livepatch: change to a per-task consistency  model Petr Mladek <pmladek@suse.com> - 2016-05-04 10:50 +0200
    Re: [RFC PATCH v2 17/18] livepatch: change to a per-task consistency  model Josh Poimboeuf <jpoimboe@redhat.com> - 2016-05-04 18:00 +0200
      Re: [RFC PATCH v2 17/18] livepatch: change to a per-task consistency  model Miroslav Benes <mbenes@suse.cz> - 2016-05-05 11:50 +0200
      Re: [RFC PATCH v2 17/18] livepatch: change to a per-task consistency  model Petr Mladek <pmladek@suse.com> - 2016-05-05 15:10 +0200
  barriers: was: [RFC PATCH v2 17/18] livepatch: change to a per-task  consistency model Petr Mladek <pmladek@suse.com> - 2016-05-04 14:40 +0200
    Re: barriers: was: [RFC PATCH v2 17/18] livepatch: change to a  per-task consistency model Peter Zijlstra <peterz@infradead.org> - 2016-05-04 16:00 +0200
      Re: barriers: was: [RFC PATCH v2 17/18] livepatch: change to a  per-task consistency model Josh Poimboeuf <jpoimboe@redhat.com> - 2016-05-04 19:00 +0200
    Re: barriers: was: [RFC PATCH v2 17/18] livepatch: change to a  per-task consistency model Petr Mladek <pmladek@suse.com> - 2016-05-04 16:20 +0200
      Re: barriers: was: [RFC PATCH v2 17/18] livepatch: change to a  per-task consistency model Josh Poimboeuf <jpoimboe@redhat.com> - 2016-05-04 19:30 +0200
        Re: barriers: was: [RFC PATCH v2 17/18] livepatch: change to a  per-task consistency model Petr Mladek <pmladek@suse.com> - 2016-05-05 13:30 +0200
        Re: barriers: was: [RFC PATCH v2 17/18] livepatch: change to a  per-task consistency model Miroslav Benes <mbenes@suse.cz> - 2016-05-09 17:50 +0200
    Re: barriers: was: [RFC PATCH v2 17/18] livepatch: change to a  per-task consistency model Josh Poimboeuf <jpoimboe@redhat.com> - 2016-05-04 19:10 +0200
      Re: barriers: was: [RFC PATCH v2 17/18] livepatch: change to a  per-task consistency model Petr Mladek <pmladek@suse.com> - 2016-05-05 12:30 +0200
  klp_task_patch: was: [RFC PATCH v2 17/18] livepatch: change to a  per-task consistency model Petr Mladek <pmladek@suse.com> - 2016-05-04 16:50 +0200
    Re: klp_task_patch: was: [RFC PATCH v2 17/18] livepatch: change to  a per-task consistency model Jiri Kosina <jikos@kernel.org> - 2016-05-04 17:00 +0200
    Re: klp_task_patch: was: [RFC PATCH v2 17/18] livepatch: change to a  per-task consistency model Josh Poimboeuf <jpoimboe@redhat.com> - 2016-05-04 20:00 +0200
      Re: klp_task_patch: was: [RFC PATCH v2 17/18] livepatch: change to a  per-task consistency model Petr Mladek <pmladek@suse.com> - 2016-05-05 14:00 +0200
        Re: klp_task_patch: was: [RFC PATCH v2 17/18] livepatch: change to a  per-task consistency model Josh Poimboeuf <jpoimboe@redhat.com> - 2016-05-06 14:40 +0200
          Re: klp_task_patch: was: [RFC PATCH v2 17/18] livepatch: change to a  per-task consistency model Petr Mladek <pmladek@suse.com> - 2016-05-09 14:30 +0200
  Re: [RFC PATCH v2 17/18] livepatch: change to a per-task consistency  model Petr Mladek <pmladek@suse.com> - 2016-05-06 13:40 +0200
    Re: [RFC PATCH v2 17/18] livepatch: change to a per-task consistency  model Josh Poimboeuf <jpoimboe@redhat.com> - 2016-05-06 14:50 +0200
  Re: [RFC PATCH v2 17/18] livepatch: change to a per-task consistency  model Miroslav Benes <mbenes@suse.cz> - 2016-05-09 11:50 +0200
  Re: [RFC PATCH v2 17/18] livepatch: change to a per-task consistency  model Miroslav Benes <mbenes@suse.cz> - 2016-05-10 13:50 +0200

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